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Compartmentalized Thinking And The Clean Water Act, Christine A. Klein
Compartmentalized Thinking And The Clean Water Act, Christine A. Klein
Christine A. Klein
Modern water pollution control traces back to the Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1972 (Clean Water Act or CWA). Like other statutes of its period, the CWA addresses pollution of a single medium, water. Despite its goal of achieving aquatic integrity, the CWA succumbs to what this article refers to as “compartmentalized thinking.” That is, in drafting the CWA, Congress created a series of regulatory boxes that separate water into constituent parts recognized by law, but not by nature. Undertaking a deeper examination of the fragmentation instinct, this article turns to political theory and cognitive psychology for explanations. In …
Using The Public Natural Resource Management Laws To Improve Water Pollution Anti-Degradation Policies, Sandi Zellmer, Robert Glicksman
Using The Public Natural Resource Management Laws To Improve Water Pollution Anti-Degradation Policies, Sandi Zellmer, Robert Glicksman
Sandi Zellmer
The Clean Water Act’s principal goal is to “restore and maintain” the integrity of the nation’s surface water bodies. The Act’s adoption was spurred largely by the perception that unchecked pollution had caused the degradation of those waters, making them unsuitable for uses such as fishing and swimming. At the time Congress passed the statute, however, some lakes, rivers, and streams had water quality that was better than what was needed to support these uses. An important question was whether the statute would limit discharges with the potential to impair these high quality waters. EPA’s anti-degradation policy sought to ensure …